New Times,
New Thinking.

From the NS archive: Still on the edge of terror

22 May 1998: Irish republicans have at last accepted partition. That is the true meaning of the Good Friday agreement. But is the price too high for the unionists?

By John Lloyd

On 10 April 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed, bringing an end to the Troubles that had plagued Northern Ireland for decades. The agreement was ratified by most of the province’s political parties and dealt with such themes as paramilitary groups, sovereignty, justice and future governance. It paved the way for a devolved government in the country. In this piece, republished in April 2023 to mark the 25th anniversary of the agreement, John Lloyd looked at the negotiating tactics and horse-trading used by both republicans and unionists, and the numerous ways the discussions could have fallen apart. The fact that some form of working consensus had been reached was a triumph, agreed Lloyd, but that did not mean the representatives of all interested groups would be able to keep their members to the terms of the agreement. Caution was still required.


A referendum in Northern Ireland, on the document known as “the agreement”, takes place today. There will be another in the Republic of Ireland, on the replacement of two articles in the constitution which lay claim to the north. The Catholics in the north and the electorate in the south are expected, probably overwhelmingly, to vote “yes”; the doubts are over the extent of northern unionist support. Yet on the face of it, the unionists could hardly have expected more from the agreement. It explicitly states that Northern Ireland will remain British as long as the majority wish it. If the two referenda produce positive results, they would seem to give the Northern Irish unionist majority the most explicit guarantees of continued British citizenship it has had in 80 years.

Subscribe to The New Statesman today for only £1 per week
Content from our partners
Securonomics? Don’t forget UK agriculture
The future of exams
Skills are the key to economic growth
Topics in this article : , ,